Compressible electrically conductive contacts are well known for use in applications such as for battery connectors in cell phones. Typically, such contacts are compressible upon insertion of the battery into a battery compartment, between the compressible contact on one end and a complementary, usually non-compressible, contact at the other end, thereby ensuring good electrical contact at both ends of the battery.
Such compressible electrical contacts may be stamped from a sheet of electrically conductive material. As stamped, the contacts may have a corrugated (or spring like) portion that may create a normal force on an end of the battery. Such corrugated portions, however, typically have a cross-sectional area that is equal to the width of the sheet from which the contacts are stamped. For this reason, the contacts may not be electrically robust enough to handle sufficient current to continually operate the device reliably at full power. For example, cell phones may require about 2 to about 4 volts and about 100 to about 400 milliamps.
Additionally, because the battery may be repeatedly inserted and removed from the connector compartment, the contacts may tend to lose their ability to maintain sufficient normal force on the battery. That is, permanent set may occur in the contacts, thereby reducing the original normal force capabilities of the contacts. Accordingly, there is a need for a compression contact that is capable of lower contact resistance, while maintaining such normal forces on the batteries even after several uses.